


caught in the middle

by lnzxsc



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Drugs, F/F, Fights, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Island - Freeform, Summer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:02:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24440275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lnzxsc/pseuds/lnzxsc
Summary: kara loves living on an island. she's ready for a summer full of boating, surfing, and hanging out with her friends. suddenly summer doesn't seem so simple when lena luthor is back on the island after a five-year absence.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 15
Kudos: 89





	1. it was supposed to be simple

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time ever posting anything! i wanted to do something outside my comfort zone so, here i am! i hope you enjoy it!

Kara woke up sweating. It was currently summer on Krypton Island, a large island in a shape that resembled an S and sat roughly 15 miles off the costs of National City. It’s hot all year round and even hotter in the summer. The fan above her bed was spinning but it was offering no relief. She looked over to her bedroom window where her ancient air conditioner sat in her window. She groaned, it must have broken during the night, again. She’d have to fix it later it, her alarm clocked shone a bright red 8:15 AM at her. 

She ran to the bathroom and hopped in the shower keeping the water cold. She had to be at the bait shop by 9:00. This was her first week, her best friend Winn had gotten her the job, Kara already worked doing boat maintenance, cleaning and anything else for the wealthy part-time islanders, but she needed another job. She wanted to be able to keep fixing her boat, she has rebuilt the engine over a dozen times in the last five years. The boat was almost twenty years old it used to be her dad’s, but the boat was sturdy, and Kara knew she could keep the engine running as long as she had the money for parts and gas. She realized now she probably needed a new part for her air conditioner too.

Kara could fix pretty much any machine. Her dad was a mechanical engineer and he taught her everything she knew. She fixes boats, dirt bikes, cars, motorcycles, jet skis for everyone all over the island. At 17 she was better than a lot of the older mechanics on the island, but she was humble, she always wanted to learn more. Kara started working for the summer islanders when she was 13, helping her dad fix anything that needed fixing and do maintenance.

That’s how it was here on, Krypton, the rich and the poor. Kara Zor-El was firmly on the poor side, always had been, but her life had always been comfortable. The island was a paradise to her and Kara tried not to pay so much attention to the divide, but it was there.  
There was her side of the islands where the islanders lived on the marsh. Islanders lived mostly the same, in houses that had been there for generations or trailers. The marsh is a family with a tight-knit community. Kara loves the marsh and the people on it, and she loves running her boat through the always-changing waterways.

Then there was the other side of the island, that was full of white sand beaches and all the summer islanders and their sprawling estates. All the islanders called the summer islanders, “the sums” for short, it wasn’t very clever, but it had caught on. She spent a lot of time with one foot in a world where she would never actually belong, at least they paid her well.

The Zor-El house sat on an acre of marshland that Kara’s great-grandparents had bought. They built the house they still lived in today. It’s made of old sturdy wood, a bungalow with a mostly open concept, two bedrooms, one office, kitchen, and living room. It was small but it worked. There’s a large willow tree in front of the house near the dock, Kara liked how the branches always looked like they were reaching for the water. 

Kara packs her bag and changes into a blue bikini, a pair of shorts, and grabs her work shirt. She walks threw her empty house glancing out the big front window, her mom's boat was gone from the dock already. The screen door bangs against the frame loudly as she walks outside, the door was on an angle, the house sank a bit more with each passing year. 

Kara inhales and smells the seawater; she knew this was where she belonged. The island was her place. She hardly ever went into the mainland anymore. Kara shoulders her bag higher and runs down the dock towards her beat-up boat that is moored at the end of it. 

Kara was happy, she had her boat, her house, her small part of the island, and her friends, what else did she really need? 

Kara started up the boat, thankful it started on her first try and headed out towards the main part of the island, she needed to pick up Winn on the way. She threw on her old ragged National City ball cap, that’d she got on a trip with her parents years ago, checked her watch and cursed; they were going to be cutting it close today. The water was perfect, light waves hit the side of the boat as she sped through the waterways. It was the start of summer, school ended less than a week ago and Kara was feeling good. It was going to be her and her friends, boating, fishing, stealing beers, and messing around for the next couple of months, the same as always. 

“Winn!” Kara yelled out to her friend when she saw him standing at the end of his dock. He turned and smiled at her as she slowed the boat. He was wearing bright swimming shorts covered with pink science beakers and a fishing cap. Kara couldn’t help but laugh.

“Kara! You’re late!” He shouted, trying to sound disapproving but smiling wide. 

“Yeah, yeah. You getting in or what? Come on, jump!” Kara slowed the boat but didn’t stop, something she did often to mess with her friends. Winn jumped and landed gracefully in the front, a skill he had only recently perfected after years of trying. 

“You ready for the tourists?” Winn shouted to her as she revved the engine back up. The tourist had been piling in, and the wealthy islanders were arriving with their yachts more and more as the summer finally started. 

“Hey, you know me! I love the tourists; you look like one with the hat of yours! Besides the more yachts for me to work on the better.” Kara laughed while Winn looked mockingly offended by the comment about his hat. Kara did have her fair share of fun with the tourists, there was always a boy or girl on vacation looking for adventure, and Kara was happy to provide. “It’s going to be a good summer Winn; I can feel it!” 

“Yeah, you say that every summer.” Winn smiled and pushed her lightly, then sat down in one of the seats. 

They made it to the main part of the island less than five minutes later and Kara tied up her boat in her usual spot. They waved to fellow islanders as they headed towards the bait shop. Winn and Kara had been running all over the island for their entire lives, they knew almost everyone. 

“So, we’re done at three, do you want to go down to the point after?” Kara asked as she threw her bag behind the till. She was itching to go to the point, it was a part of the island that was rarely visited and it was just on the limit of the marsh, around the point the estates and their sprawling summer houses started. The point had a perfect small beach and tide pools, plus the waves for surfing were always great. It was Kara’s favourite place on the island. 

“Sure, should I message Nia and Alex?” Winn asked from the other side of the shop as he started to stock fishing rods.

“Yeah, that’s great, tell them to meet us here at three.” Kara was basically vibrating with happiness; summer was officially starting. 

Her shift went by fairly quickly, they were pretty busy, and working with Winn had already been a lot of fun. Kara liked to place a worm on his shoulder any chance she got and watch him freaked out every time without fail. 

By the time three came, Kara was practically running out the door. Kara exited the shop and saw Nia and Alex. Nia had only lived on the island for two years, she moved here with her dad when her parents split up, her dad ran charters trips for tourists and Nia would run the boats too. She and Kara became fast friends, bonding over surfing and their loves of sea creatures and since Kara and Winn were always together, he and Nia had become close quickly too. Nia was always quick to rant about the divide between the communities on the island, how they had so little, while the other side of the island had so much.

Alex and Kara had been friends even longer than her and Winn. Alex’s parents were best friends with her own, Alex’s mom Eliza was Kara’s godmother. Alex was 19 and Kara, Winn, and Nia were 17 but she still always hung out with them, every one of all ages tended to be friends on the island. Their parents weren’t that close anymore, Kara’s dad had died when she was 14, and ever since then her mom had sort of retreated away from her friends. The Danvers still tried though, and Kara was grateful she had them in her life. Alex was tough and didn’t take people’s shit, she was working as a security guard at the museum and wanted to be a cop someday. 

“Hey, guys!” Kara ran over to them. Nia and Alex both had their surfboards and Nia had a cooler in one hand. “Ready for the point?”

“God, yes! Let’s go, I have to do the stupid sunset cruise later though, so I need to be back by six.” Nia headed towards the boat while rolling her eyes, she hated the sunset cruise. Alex and Kara looked at each other and laughed. 

“How have you been, Kar? I haven’t seen you in a few days.” Alex voiced tried to sound casual, but she could hear the concern in it. Sudden annoyance flared through Kara, this was the start of their summer, it was supposed to be fun and free and not weighed down by concern and sideways glances from Alex. 

“Alex, everything’s cool, I’ll come for dinner tonight?” Kara smiled and turned to walk towards her boat. All she wanted to do right now was surf and drink beers with her friends. Alex caught up quickly and knocked Kara’s hat off her head before running to Kara’s boat laughing. 

Everyone was on the boat by the time she got there. She jumped in and started it, speeding out of the harbour. She manoeuvred through the water and felt at peace seeing her friends sitting in front of her laughing. The trip to the point took almost half an hour from the main part of the island, as Kara saw it coming into view, she pulled the boat as close as the could to the beach then dropped the anchor, they usually liked to sunbathe on the boat. Kara was pretty sure she couldn’t get any tanner though after years spent in the sun; her hair probably couldn’t get any blonder either. 

Kara, Nia, and Alex all jumped into the water with their surfboards and headed for the waves. Winn didn’t like surfing; he was way to uncoordinated. He cracked a beer and held it up as Kara looked back at him. 

Kara rode so many waves she lost count, there was something about the water that made her feel at home when she was on the waves, she forgot about everything else. Alex and Nia headed back towards the boat while Kara rode a few more. When she got back to the boat everyone had a drink and was laughing at something Winn said. Alex helped Kara into the boat, even though she didn’t need it, but it was an old habit of hers. Nia threw Kara a beer, she caught it easily and popped it open. She settled on the old torn seats in her boat and raised her face to the sun. 

“So, guess what I heard today!” Nia always knew all the island gossip. 

“There can’t have been a summer break up already!” Alex joked and Kara laughed, it would probably be another week before the couples started breaking up. 

“No, it’s not about an Islander.” Nia added. That piqued Kara’s interest a bit.

“Tourists or The Sums?” Winn asked, finally seeming interested himself. 

“Sum.” Nia said. 

“Is it the Queens?” Alex said. She hated that family, Oliver messed with Alex’s dirt bike a couple of years back and she had a grudge ever since. 

“The Sawyers?” Winn said. The Sawyers were new money, they’d only been on the island since last summer, but they built a huge house, and Kara had already been hired on to work on the yacht, so they were back. The daughter, Maggie, was nice, and Kara knew that she and Alex had been on good terms for most of the last summer, but then something happened, and Alex would never explain what it was to Kara. She noticed Alex look down and pick at the label of her beer, she hoped Alex could work out whatever happened between her and Maggie this summer. 

“The Edges? Lord’s? The Olsen’s?” Kara tried, enjoying the guessing game now. 

“Nope, nope, and nope!” Nia answered smirking. 

“The Arias’s?” Winn added holding up a finger. 

“Well, sort of.” Nia said. That was interesting the Arias’s were usually fairly drama-free. The only scandal they’d ever had was when their daughter Samantha, who was their age, had a baby last year but they all seemed happy now. Kara also worked for the Arias’s and liked Sam, her daughter Ruby was super cute. 

“Nia just tell us!” Alex finally snapped; she was never one to have a lot of patience. 

“Okay, so I heard that the Luthor’s are here.” Kara sat up from her spot slouched in her chair. “Apparently Eve saw Sam Arias and Lena Luthor together on the Luther estate. Eve and her mom have been taking care of the landscaping for the past week and getting it ready and they showed up yesterday.” 

Kara stopped listening, the Luthor’s were back. They hadn’t been back on the island in five years. The last time Kara saw Lena Luthor they were both 12. At that age kids from both sides of the islands sometimes hung out together. Kara had spent quite a bit of time with Lena, Lena loved animals and wanted to be a marine biologist. She and Kara spent hours looking into tide pools and trying to save turtles. They’d wander the island aimlessly all day long, Lena’s last summer on the island Kara had spent more time with her than she did with Winn and Alex. Then they didn’t come back. 

Everyone knew what happened with Luthor’s. Lena’s brother Lex had been arrested for some sort of terrorism and they had been all over the news for what seemed to be a year. Since then the Luthor estate sat empty, it still had basic up keeping but everyone wondered whether they were ever coming back. The younger kids had even started to make up stories that the place was haunted and dared each other to go and knock on the door. 

“Kara? Kara!” Kara zoned back into the conversation; Alex was waving her hand in front of her face. 

“Sorry.” Kara shook her head. She felt a strange pressure settle against her chest as she thought about Lena. “What’s up?” 

“It’s almost 5, we need to head back,” Alex said, she noticed Winn and Nia had stowed the surfboards and were packing up. 

“Yeah, by the way, guys, there’s a party tonight! Mon-El throwing it and I know he sucks, but hey, he’s got a keg!” Nia added laughing and everyone shrugged and joined in on the laughter. Mon-El was an idiot but he was one of them. 

“Yeah, okay!” Kara got up and started to power up the boat, she still felt distracted though. The Luthor’s were back, Lena was back, and suddenly Kara felt that the summer might be a little different than she thought.


	2. this is life now

Kara dropped off Nia and Winn. She waved to them as she and Alex pulled away from the shoreline.

“I need to go to my house first and drop off my stuff.” Kara said to Alex as she accelerated the boat.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Alex responded and looked pointedly away from Kara.

Kara didn’t bring many people around her house these days. Kara’s Mom hadn’t been the same since her father died. She used to be really fun and attentive but her Mom could barely look at her anymore. Everyone always told Kara she looked like her Dad. Kara hated having other people around to witness how cold her house had become, especially Alex. Alex used to spend a lot of time at the Zor-El house but when Kara’s Dad died she’d banned Alex from coming over. As much as Kara tried to avoid talking about her Mom or anything to do with her family Alex still pushed and it had caused problems in their friendship.

Kara docked her boat beside her Mom’s and Alex said she’d tied it up so she jumped out and jogged down the dirt path towards the house.

She walked through the screen door onto the porch, the wood creaking loudly beneath her feet. As she walked into the house, she glanced around for her Mom but Kara knew where she would be. Her Mom is a scientist and spends most days either out in the marsh or the small home office. Her Dad had always joked that her Mom was the brains and he was the brawn and that’s why they were such a good match.

The door to the office was closed which meant her Mom was in there. Kara never went into the office, there are invisible lines drawn in her house. She didn’t go into her Mom’s bedroom or office and her Mom never went into Kara’s room. She knew her Mom wasn’t going to come out to greet her, so she headed towards her bedroom and put her bag on her bed.

Her room was small, but it was cozy, pictures of her and her friends covered the walls and an old pirate skull and crossbones flag hung above her bed. Kara loved pirates and Winn and Alex had gotten it for her as a joke.

She quickly changed out of her work clothes and bathing suit. She grabbed another bikini, a light pink one that looked nice against her tan skin, and put on a pair of jean shorts and a plain black shirt with the sleeves cut off. She looked around her room, spotting a bottle of vodka on her desk and tossing it into her bag. She opened a drawer in her desk and grabbed a couple of joints she’d rolled. She didn’t smoke a lot, but it was a party and she knew Nia would smoke with her. She placed them into a container and tossed them into her bag too. Kara brushed her hair and glanced at herself in the mirror that hung on the wall.

She knew she was pretty, everyone always told her, and she was strong from years of surfing and carrying equipment on the boats. Her hair was getting long, it was almost to her hips and it was naturally wavy. She considers putting it up before she decides to leave it down, she turned and grabbed her backpack and walked out of her room, shutting the door.

She looked over and saw Alex on the porch waiting for her, she felt a pang of guilt and almost called out to Alex to tell her to come inside but decided against it. Kara walked towards the porch and stopped outside her Mom’s office door.

“I’m going to Alex’s, I don’t know when I’ll be back.” She said quietly to the door. There wasn’t any response, but Kara could hear her Mom shuffling papers on the other side. She rolled her eyes and walked briskly to the porch. “Let’s go.” Kara said to Alex as she kept walking.

“Your Mom home?” Alex asked as she caught up to her.

Kara bristled, she felt the same annoyance from earlier bubble up inside her.

“Yes, Alex. She’s home.” Kara tried to keep her voice steady.

“Maybe you should see if she wants to come, My parents would—”

“Alex! She doesn’t want to come okay! Just stop!” Kara whirled on Alex before she could stop herself, she saw Alex jump not expecting the outburst. Kara placed her hand against her forehead, instantly regretting lashing out. “Shit, I’m sorry, she doesn’t want to come okay, please just…” Kara trailed off not sure what else she wanted to say. Please just stop? Please just understand my Mom can hardly look at me?

“I’m sorry Kara.” Alex took a step towards Kara with her hand outstretched but hesitated before she could reach her. “I shouldn’t have.”  
  
Kara’s anger was gone as fast as it came. She didn’t want to fight with Alex about this, she knew Alex was just worried about her. Kara had seemingly been raising herself for the last 3 years, Alex saw that. Kara had accepted that this was her life now, but it was harder for Alex, she always wanted to fix things for people.

“It’s cool, Alex. Let’s go eat, yeah?” Kara jumped into the boat. “Eliza better be making a feast!” Kara said waggling her eyebrows, Kara was known to have a big appetite. Alex smiled and laughed at that and jumped into the boat too. The tension was gone as Kara set off towards Alex’s place.

They arrived at the Danvers and docked the boat beside all of Alex’s family boats. The Danvers were fairly well off. Eliza Danvers was a scientist, like Kara’s Mom, but in a very different field and had been pretty successful throughout her career. Jeremiah Danvers was in the army, so he was off-island for long periods sometimes, which Kara knows Alex hates, but he was home right now for a while.

Kara thought that they could probably even buy land on the other side of the island if they wanted, but they stayed on the marsh. Their house was two-stories and Alex lived in a loft in the attic, there was a skylight in her bedroom and Kara liked to sleep underneath it and stare at the stars. As they entered the house Kara felt tension bleed from her shoulders, she always felt better at the Danvers.

Eliza had indeed made a feast and Kara had seconds, and then thirds. She sucked at cooking, and since she mostly cooked for herself these days she appreciated eating at the Danvers. They all made small talk and Kara was glad neither Eliza or Jeremiah asked her about her Mom.

Kara and Alex cleaned up from dinner they headed to Alex’s room. Kara climbed the stairs and flopped down on Alex’s bed when she got into the room.

“Kara, don’t get your shoes on my bed!” Alex said grabbing her feet. Alex hated dirty shoes and Kara’s were always covered in sand and seaweed.

“Yes ma’am.” Kara said jokingly and grinned while she did a mock salute. She kicked off her shoes and sat cross-legged on Alex’s bed. “Happy?”

“Yes, very!” Alex said and turned towards her closet to pick an outfit for the party.

“So, who do you think will be there?” Kara asked she felt that pressure in her chest again as Lena Luthor crossed her mind. The Sums usually came to their parties, the opportunity for alcohol rarely went passed up even if it meant venturing onto the marsh.

“Well, our group for sure, Eve, Leslie, J’onn, Brainy, Sara, Ava, Nate, Ray. Why is there someone you want to be there?” Alex asked and looked over at her.

“What!? No.” Kara said a bit too abruptly. Somehow she was worried Alex knew she’d been thinking about Lena Luthor.

“Woah, relax, I know you hate relationships but I was just wondering if you were seeing anyone, you know, casually.” Alex said. Kara didn’t date exclusively, ever. She was a free spirit she was currently hanging out boys and girls from marsh but never anything serious. She couldn’t handle that, she hated the idea of being weighed down by someone and their expectations. Kara didn’t feel like talking about it with Alex right now though.

“A girl should never kiss and tell.” Kara said winking at Alex.

“Yeah right! I’m sure I’ll hear about it sooner or later.” Alex said, raising her eyebrows. Kara did usually end up telling Alex everything but lately, she seemed to be keeping a lot of secrets from her.

“Do you think The Sums will come?” Kara felt weird asking for some reason, which was ridiculous. Kara noticed that when she mentioned them Alex fumbled with the shirt in her hands.

“Yeah, well you know them, they’ll come. If Queen shows up though I’m spitting in his beer.” Alex grinned and her previous nervousness was gone.

Kara laughed and fell back on Alex’s bed. She had butterflies in her stomach, she was so ready to let loose and party.

Alex finally got dressed and they both sat at her vanity and put on some make-up, Kara stabbed Alex with the mascara wand leaving a black smudge that took forever to get off; Kara cackled as Alex grumbled. As they were finishing up Kara grabbed her bag and pulled out her vodka, she took a large swig before passing it to Alex.

“Where’d you get this?” Alex took a large sip and grimaced, she never liked vodka.

“Around.” Kara shrugged, she knew Alex knew where she got it anyway.

“So how many times is Mon-El going to hit on you tonight?” Alex passed her back the vodka and laughed. Mon-El had had a crush on Kara since they were kids, but Kara had never felt that way about him.

“Oh my god, he’s so bad at it though!” Kara drank and her throat burned, a feeling she’d come to know well. Mon-El was idiot, he had no game. “Poor dude.”

Nia showed up at Alex’s around 10:30, she came striding into Alex’s room whining about how all the couples on the sunset cruise made her gag. She had her own bottle of vodka and Kara took a swig as hers was finished a while ago. Winn showed up 5 minutes later.

“Dude, Alex your Dad scares me!” Winn looked a little flustered. Kara laughed Winn had always been intimidated by Alex’s Dad. “I was so worried my booze was going to fall out of my pants!” Winn pulled a bottle of rum out of the waistband of his khaki shorts. Kara laughed even harder and Winn took a sip and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

She was feeling the vodka now and could feel the excitement buzzing through her veins. As Alex and Winn were talking and drinking. Nia walked up beside Kara and leaned into her space.

“Do you want to come back to my place after the party?” Nia asked looking up at Kara through her long dark eyelashes. Kara and Nia had been hooking up casually for a little. Kara knew it was a bad idea but she wasn’t very good when it came to impulse control and Nia was very beautiful.

“We’ll see.” Kara said through the side of her mouth. She hadn’t told Winn or Alex about it and she didn’t want them to find out either, they were a unit, and Kara didn’t want to ruin it.

“Cool.” Nia said before passing the bottle again to Kara, which she was not going to refuse.

They descended the stairs from Alex’s room carefully, her parents were in their room, and Alex went to tell them they were leaving while they headed down and out of the house. The night was warm and the crickets were humming happily. They were going to walk over to the Mon-El’s, his family owned the trailer park and he was throwing the party of there part of the property that had a rocky beach. They always joked it is the best beach on the marsh.

Alex joined them and they started walking, Kara grabbed a joint from the container in her bag and lit it. She took a drag and passed it to Nia.

“Kara!” Alex said exasperated.

“Come on Alex, you’re not a cop yet!” Winn grabbed the joint and took a long drag. He went to pass it to her but she put her hand up to say no. Alex hadn’t smoked in a couple of years. Winn shrugged and passed it back to Kara. Kara felt the weed fill her lungs and looked up into the sky. It was a beautiful night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the party is next!


	3. make a choice

Kara, Winn, and Nia finished the joint quite quickly, the walk to the Daxam Trailer Park took a while since it was quite far from Alex’s, but Kara enjoyed walking through the marsh at night. As they walked they met up with their friends Sara, Ava, and Ray. Kara and Sara were close for a while, they used to workout together constantly, but Sara had started dating Ava recently, so she hadn’t seen her very much. She hugged them both and nodded to Ray, she was happy they were coming. They could hear the party as the neared. Kara picked up her pace and a loud chorus of shouts welcomed them as they came into view in the firelight. Kara immediately zeroed in on the keg and walked over, Mon-El was standing behind the keg filling cups, and as he smiled widely at her as she approached.

“Kara! You made it! Here, have a beer!” Mon-El shoved the beer into Kara’s hand causing it to spill over the side of the plastic red cup, luckily, she was quick enough to avoid it getting onto her shirt. 

“Don’t need to throw it at me!” Kara said, meaning it as a joke but Mon-El wince and she felt bad. “Good party dude, thanks!” Kara   
added trying to soften the mishap and bumped his arm with a closed fist before she turned and walked away. 

She turned and surveyed the party. It wasn’t quite midnight yet but there were quite a few islanders there. She saw Nia talking to Brainy, one of their friends from school, and smiled, she was pretty sure he had a crush on her. It didn’t bother her any, if they got together it would definitely stop Kara from ruining her friendship with Nia. Kara noticed Winn and Alex and some other people she knew and headed in their direction.

Kara was talking with Sara and Ava when she saw The Sums walk into the firelight. 

Kara saw Maggie Sawyer, Thea Queen, and Kelly Olsen first, she knew them fairly well and got along with all of them. Next, she saw Oliver Queen and James Olsen, she was on good terms with both of them due to her job, but she didn’t like either of them, they were arrogant, typical spoiled rich kids. Kara looked around for Alex to see if she’d noticed Oliver Queen was here, but she couldn’t find her in the crowd. When Kara looked back towards the group that’s when she finally Kara saw her. Lena Luthor was walking into the party slightly behind James Olsen. 

Lena looked different than Kara remembered her, she was more angular, and her skin looked even paler, the firelight was jumping across her features as the group walked further into the party. She was wearing a red summer dress that hung perfectly on her and she looked as if she was totally bored. Kara glanced at Lena up and down and caught sight of her hands, she saw Lena’s finger tapping against her palm, a tick Kara remembered meant Lena was nervous. Kara realized she taken a few steps away from Sara and Ava, but they were so wrapped up in each and weren’t paying attention to her anyway.

Their group headed towards the keg and Kara finally saw Alex, she was standing around the keg with their friends Nate and Ray, Mon-El is still operating the keg and pouring drinks for people. 

“Hey El, some beers.” James barked at Mon-El. She saw him jump a bit in surprise, Mon-El had always been intimidated by James Olsen. He turned and began filling up cups, Mon-El worked as a server for a lot of the events on the island and the summer islanders tended to treat him that way all the time. Kara hated it but she knew Alex hated it more. 

“How bout a please there!” Alex turned on them stepping between them and the keg. Kara could tell by her voice that she was drunk. Kara picked up her pace towards the keg. 

“Shut up, Danvers’s.” Oliver Queen, said smirking and looking down and Alex. He had a good foot on Alex but Kara knew that wouldn’t stop her. 

“What did you say to me!?” Alex went to take a step forward but Kara cut right between them. 

“Hey, hey! It’s all good, we’re cool, right Alex?” Kara looked into Alex’s eyes. This was not the time to pick a fight with The Sums. Alex had too much to lose. “We’re cool, right Oliver?” Kara turned and spoke to him. Oliver and Kara hoped her somewhat decent relationship with the Oliver worked in her favour right now. 

“Yeah, whatever Kara.” Oliver said grabbing a beer out of Mon-El’s outstretched hand. 

“Alright, come on guys, lets party!” Kara said. Alex spun on her heel and walked away from the group and Kara knew to let her go. Alex had always been hot-headed, it was something that had led to bad decisions before and Kara knew she was trying to work on it. Kara saw Kelly and Thea grab a couple of beers and she thought she saw Maggie walk in the same direction as Alex. Kara glanced over to the speaker that was playing music beside the keg and decided to turn the volume up a bit. When she turned back around from the speaker   
to rejoin the party, she turned right into Lena Luthor. 

Kara felt her mouth drop open slightly at the sight of her, she looked even more beautiful up close with the firelight dancing through her black hair and her green eyes trained on Kara. She closed her mouth as quickly as she could. 

“Kara?” Her voice sounded different than Kara remembered, her accent had been thicker when she was a kid, it was lighter now. 

“Lena.” Kara breathed out her name. She was standing in front of Kara with a small sweet smile on her face and Kara’s veins were buzzing again. “You’re here.” Kara knew it was a lame thing to say but she couldn’t think of anything else. 

“Yes, I am.” Lena smiled wider and laughed lightly. “It’s really nice to see you, Kara, you look great.” Kara felt like she heard a pause before Lena said great. 

Kara suddenly surged forward and hugged her. She felt Lena tense and she almost pulled away and apologized before Lena wrapped her arms around her and squeezed her tightly. Kara squeezed back and inhaled, Lena smelled like lavender. She pulled back suddenly feeling embarrassed, Kara hadn’t been outwardly affectionate like that in a long time. 

“It’s good to see you too, it’s been a long time.” Kara said running a hand through her hair feeling entirely unprepared for this even though she’d secretly been hoping to see Lena ever since she heard she was back. 

“Yeah, it has.” Lena adds and Kara watches and Lena looks her up and down. Kara felt hot, was Lena checking her out? 

“Lena!” James Olsen's voice suddenly breaks her out of the haze she’d been in. He holds up a beer that’s obviously meant for her. 

Lena looks over at him before looking back at Kara.

“Find me later.” Then she’s gone and it’s like Kara has emerged from under a big wave when she’s surfing, she can suddenly hear the sound of the music and the waves hitting the shore and she can smell the fire, the seawater, the lavender. Find her later? What did that mean? Kara hadn’t seen her in five years and now she was going to what? Be her friend again? Everything was different now, the lines between their worlds were defined now, they weren’t kids anymore. 

Kara grabbed another beer and sat down on a log beside the fire. Nia sat down beside her a minute later. 

“Alex left.” She said to Kara.

“I thought she might have, think she’s mad at me.” Kara sighed. 

“For butting in with Oliver? You did the right thing there, Alex should know better, every time she messes with the guy it ends badly for her.” Nia said, she grabs Kara’s beer and takes a sip before handing it back. 

“Yeah, she’ll realize that tomorrow.” Kara said. She knew Alex wouldn’t be mad tomorrow, she never was when they drunkenly disagreed. 

“So, I think I’m going to leave in a bit, are you coming?” Nia asked Kara. Kara almost said yes, but then she thought of Lena and the fact that she did want to follow through on Lena’s request and find her later. 

“No, I think I’ll stay. The party is going to go all night, I want to hang out.” It wasn’t a total lie; the party was for sure going to last all night. She looked at her watch it was 2 AM now and people were still showing up. 

“Alright Kara, text me tomorrow.” Nia stood up and walked into the crowd. Kara wasn’t sure whether Nia was a bit pissed with her too, but she just like Alex, tomorrow she wouldn’t be. 

Kara couldn’t see Lena, so she got up to try and find her, but as she started walking her friend Ray yelled over to her and challenged her to beer pong. She never turned down a challenge, she was the island champion, she had a title to defend. She beat, Ray, then Sara, then Eve, before she handed the ball to someone else, feeling smug with her victories. By the time she glanced at her watch again, it was a little after 3 AM. 

She decided she was going to go look for Lena. She walked around the outside of the group and spotted Maggie and Kelly laughing together, they waved at her and she waved back. Lena wasn’t with them and Kara wondered if maybe she’d left, but she looked a little further down the beach and saw Lena sitting in the sand on the edge of the light from the party. 

She picked up her pace and walked towards her, settling herself softly in the sand beside her.

“You found me.” Lena said looking at her and smiling.

“Of course.” Kara answered quietly, brushing sand off her hands. They were quiet for a Moment, Kara suddenly felt unsure of why she was even here. “I thought you would never come back.” Kara regrets saying it as soon as it’s out of her mouth, it somehow sounds so much more vulnerable than she meant it too. 

“I wasn’t sure I ever would, but I wanted too.” Lena said quickly in response, Lena’s voice is soft but earnest. “You look really good Kara.” She said still smiling at her. It was the second time that night Lena had complimented her. 

Kara turns and looks at Lena up close this time. Lena really is beautiful, she looks just like she remembers her but older, and now Kara can see a sadness in her eyes. Kara isn’t surprised by that, they’d both been through terrible tings the past five years, Kara knows her eyes must not be as carefree as they used to be. Kara realizes she’s staring and finally drags her eyes away from Lena and looks out to the dark ocean.

“Thanks, I mean, you look great too.” Kara brushes her hair behind her ear and feels herself blush a bit. This is so unlike her, she was always so collected. Throughout the years she’d dreamed of seeing Lena again and now she was here, but Kara wasn’t sure this was a good thing. 

“I hear that you’re quite the mechanic.” Lena says filing the silence.

“Where did you hear that from?” Kara doesn’t mean to sound defensive, but she does.

“Oh, just from Maggie, she says you work on their boats…” Lean trails off and Kara is kicking herself for her reaction. If she was talking to Maggie about her did that mean she had been asking about her? 

“Oh, yeah, well you know it’s great money, and I love it.” Kara softens in her response and looks directly at Lena. Her cheekbones are more pronounced than when they were twelve. Her whole demeanour seems quieter somehow, but stronger than when they were kids.

“I remember, but I remember you loving the water, more.” Lena says with laughter in her voice. Lena didn’t surf, but when they were younger, she used to sit on the beach while Kara did. “I loved watching you surf.” 

“I loved watching you watch me.” Kara says without thinking. Again, it seems far too vulnerable to be saying to a girl she hadn’t seen in five years and Kara realized it implied something more than innocent friendship. It was true though; she had loved looking over to the beach at the point and seeing Lena watching her. 

Lena stares at her with soft eyes and places her hand on Kara’s that’s sitting in the sand between them. It’s warm and Kara wants to lean further into it and tell Lena everything that’s happened to her in the last five years, she wants to know all about Lena too. 

Before either of them can say anything else Kara hears yelling. She immediately stands up and casts a glance towards Lena before she moves towards the noise. She doesn’t want to stop talking to Lena, but she knows she can’t ignore this. Kara can hear her friends J’onn’s voice and as she gets closer she sees J’onn and standing in front of him is Oliver and James.

The J’onzz family are fishermen and J’onn’s father runs the biggest grocery shop on the island. J’onn was planning on taking over the shop when he was old enough, but his first love was fishing. He and Kara had been friends since they were children, they would go out fishing together whenever they got the chance. 

“Get out of here, Olsen, I swear!” J’onn is yelling at James and Kara notices Winn trying to grab J’onn’s arm and hold him back. It was mostly in vain, J’onn had grown at least a foot and half in the last year and now he towered over Winn. 

As Kara reaches them she sees that J’onn’s shirt is wet with beer. It didn’t take long for her to figure out a cup of beer had ended up all over J’onn. Across from him, James and Oliver’s faces were contorted with laughter. 

“Relax, J’onzz, what’s the big deal? Is that the only shirt you own?” Oliver says laughing and James laughs too. 

Kara feels anger rear up in her chest. How dare they come to her side of the island and disrespect them like this. Oliver and James had always been nice to Kara, but she knew what they thought of her. Kara pushes past people and almost trips in the sand but when she finally reaches the group she steps in between them. She places a hand against J’onn’s chest. She glances at Winn and can see the thankful look in his eye.

“I think it’s time you headed back to your side of the island.” Kara's voice is loud and her eye pierced into Oliver and James. 

“Kara, don’t you ever get tired of tiring to control these losers” James answers. Kara feels her body tense, she could make a move and break his nose faster than he could stop her, but she couldn’t. Her whole existence revolved around being able to work on the island. She takes a deep breath, J’onn makes a move forward but Kara slams her palm against his chest. 

“Enough Olsen, get the fuck off the marsh.” Kara keeps her voice steady. Thankfully Kelly, James’s sister grabs his arms and looks apologetically at Kara. Kelly and Kara would talk while she worked, she was nothing like her brother. 

“We're going Kara, we’ll see you.” Kelly says softly. Kara remembers that she has to go work at the Olsen’s estate tomorrow, now she really isn’t looking forward to it. 

“Yeah, we’ll be seeing all of you!” Oliver yells as they turn and walk away. Maggie and Thea join their group and Kara feels some tension bleed away as they reach the edge of the group, suddenly James yells.

“Lena! Let's go!” 

Kara's head snaps to where Lena had been sitting and she finds her walking towards the group avoiding looking at anyone else. She walks calmly and joins their group. Kara keeps looking at her as they begin to fade away from the firelight and just before they disappear into darkness Lena looks back and catches Kara's eye. 

Kara immediately looks away the lines have clearly been drawn.

After the almost fight the party started to whine down. Kara was suddenly exhausted and decided she was going to head back to Alex’s and sleep on her boat since it was still docked there. She went to find Winn to see if he wanted to come with her, they often slept in the boat during the summer. 

“Hey, Winn.” He was sitting by the fire with Mon-El and J’onn. J’onn looked at Kara and rolled his eyes. 

“Hey Kara, are you leaving?” Winn said standing up. 

“Yeah Kara, you should be leaving.” J’onn said. Kara was surprised, she knew he was still mad at the Sums, but he didn’t need to take it out on her. 

“Excuse me?” Kara answers stepping towards J’onn. “What you should be saying to me is thank you!” 

“Why? Seems to me like you were on Queen and Olsen’s side.” J’onn said glaring at her. She can see that he’s drunk but that doesn’t mean Kara is going to allow him to say this to her.

“Are you serious right now!?” Kara can feel the anger bloom in her chest. She kneels down beside J’onn and looks straight into his eyes. “What were you going to do? Punch James? Kick Oliver’s ass? Then what J’onn, huh? They go and cry about it and suddenly they’re punishing your business for it, they’re buying elsewhere or worse you have an assault charge brought against you!” Kara wants to yell but her voice is barely above a whisper. 

“I just—” J’onn starts then stops. 

“No! I know you're pissed but you’re lucky I was here, you’re lucky the Sums respect me even a little bit. Never question where my loyalties lie J’onn because I will always protect the marsh and the people on it.” Kara finishes and stands up. Everyone is quiet, Mon-El is looking at her apologetically. 

“I’m sorry.” J’onn says quietly. 

“Yeah. Let’s go Winn.” Kara turns and starts to walk away from the boys, she’s even more exhausted now than a few minutes ago. The walk back to Alex’s takes a while and Kara was glad she would have that time to calm down. Winn joined her as they reach the edge of the rocky beach.

“You know he didn’t mean it, Kara.” Winn said quietly into the night. 

“Yeah, I know.” Kara said quietly back. 

They walk in silence just listening to the grass in the wind and the animals moving around in the marsh. Kara’s loyalty to the marsh had been questioned over and over again for the past couple of years. She got along with everyone on the island, that was just her personality. She wasn’t the only person who worked on the Sum estates but she worked closely with the people her age and she was outgoing and good at her job, so she got along well with most of their parents that employed her. She spent days on the estates feeling like she didn’t belong and now when she’s on the marsh it’s like she needs to prove to people that she belongs on the marsh too.

They reach the boat at the end of the Danvers dock. Kara can see that the light is off in Alex’s room, it’s almost 4:00 AM so she isn’t surprised she’s asleep. Winn goes to lay down in the front and Kara takes the back. She throws her arm behind her head and looks up at the sky. The stars are so bright and clear tonight and the water laps quietly against the side of the boat. 

“I saw you talking to Lena Luthor.” Winn says into the night and it hangs there between them for a moment. Kara worries that he too is going to start questioning her for it, but he adds. “I always liked her; she was a good friend to you.” 

It strangely feels like Winn is giving her his permission to be friends with Lena again, even though Kara knows she doesn’t need it. She realizes that even if she’d been a good friend to Kara when they were younger it was clear especially after tonight that everything was different now. She leaned back and settled further into the seats. 

“Yeah, she was.” Kara said sighing sadly.


	4. miles between us

Kara wakes up to the smell of coffee and when she cracks an eye open Alex is standing in the b holding two mugs. She sits up and gratefully accepts the mug handed to her. Alex moves towards Winn and he sits up and takes the other mug from Alex. Kara guesses it’s about 8 and she’s glad Alex woke them because she has to be at the Olsen estate at 11.

“Damn, my head hurts.” Winn said in a whiney voice while squinting his eyes. He sits up and leans his elbows on his knees. Kara feels alright, she has a headache but nothing water and medicine can’t easily fix.

Alex comes and sits beside Kara, Kara hands her the mug and Alex takes a sip.

“Thanks for the coffee.” Kara said.

“You’re welcome, thanks for last night.” Alex answered and hands the mug back to her. Kara smiles she knew Alex wouldn’t be mad at her.

“Man, Alex, you missed it, shit went down after you left!” Winn said stretching in the front of the boat.

Winn fills Alex in on what happened with J’onn and James and then tells her how Kara stepped in, Alex makes comments about how she’d like to kick James and Oliver’s asses. Kara sips her coffee and stays quiet.

“Looks like you had an eventful night Kara.” Alex said to her after Winn had finished.

“Something like that.” Kara said, her mind drifting back to her brief conversations with Lena. She doesn’t have time to really think about it though. “Can I use your shower and borrow some clothes? I have to be at work in a bit.”

Alex laughs and says sure. They head towards the house and Winn says he’s going to walk home and waves by to them. Kara walks into the house and heads straight for the bathroom. She washes the sand from her body, the alcohol is mostly out of her system and 15 minutes later Kara is almost feeling back to normal. Kara looks in Alex’s medicine cabinet and takes a pain killer, washing it down with water from the tap. She grabs her toothbrush that sits beside Alex’s and brushes her teeth. Alex replaces the toothbrush now and then for her. When she comes out of the bathroom into Alex’s room, she notices Alex has laid out some clothes for her. She changes into a bathing suit, shorts, and one of Alex’s older t-shirts. Kara tends to get grease on her clothes and Kara has worn this while working before. Kara finishes getting dressed as Alex enters her room with a couple of pieces of bacon and toast. Kara eagerly grabs the plate from her.

“Where are you working today?” Alex said while grabbing her uniform, she was working at the museum today.

“At the Olsen’s first, I need to check their jet skis, then I’m going to the Sawyers, then the Arias’s.” Kara said through mouthfuls of her breakfast. She had a full day; the beginning g of summer always offered a lot of work for her. “Did you talk to Maggie last night?” Kara asked.

“What? No, why would I do that?” Alex said her voice sounding slightly shrill. Kara was surprised, she thought maybe Alex and Maggie would be over whatever it was that happened last summer.

“I thought you guys were friends, I know you had a weird fight or whatever, but you guys were close last summer, that’s all…” Kara said looking at Alex. Alex has her back to Kara, but she can see the tension along her shoulders, she realizes maybe Alex is keeping secrets of her own from Kara.

“We are friends or were friends.” Alex answers and starts brushing her hair a little aggressively. “Besides it doesn’t matter, she’s a sum, even if she’s new.” Alex said.

Kara feels a burn in her stomach. Her thoughts turn back to Lena, who had looked at Kara with such soft eyes while they sat arm to arm in the sand but minutes later turned away from her so easily.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.” Kara said.

Not long after that Kara is flying across the water heading towards the Olsen estate. She is not looking forward to seeing James, but she knows how to be professional. She slowed down as she reached their dock, their house is sprawling with multiple stories and the fresh white paint on the house is shining bright white in the summer sun. Nate Heywood and his Dad did all the painting on the island. Kara had helped them repaint the house this past off-season, it was a big job and Kara wasn’t as busy during the winter, so after school Nate and she would work. Nate’s Dad is a good guy and paid her and fed her while she worked and she and Nate had very similar senses of humour, Nate is a big stoner and he and Kara would sometimes get high together after work.

Their yacht takes up most of the space at the end on their dock and Kelly and James’s speed boats too. Kara’s boat is extremely small compared to theirs, so she docks in a small available space and ties it up. Kara goes to the back of her boat and grabs her tool kit, it’s heavy and large, the blue and red paint is chipping on it, it was her Dad’s and now it’s hers.

As she walks down the dock, she spies Mr. Olsen talking to Eve Teschmacher, she’s one of Kara’s friends and works in landscaping with her mom, she’s the one who told Nia about seeing Lena. Eve waves to her and then walks away back around the house towards wherever she is working.

“Hello, Mr. Olsen. It’s good to see you!” Kara said holding out her hand. She liked Mr. Olsen he was always nice to Kara and her father when he was alive, and he tipped Kara well.

“Kara! Great to see you! We’re glad to have you back working with us this summer. I trust that our arrangement for payment will remain the same, money every Friday?” Mr. Olsen said, shaking Kara’s hand firmly. Kara has a good handshake, something her mother had actually taught her the importance of.

“Yes, sir, that will be just fine.” Kara said with an even smile.

“Excellent, well the jet skis are in the driveway, they need a full tune-up! Also, I wanted to ask if you’d take a look at the engine on James’s boat too.” Mr. Olsen said. She hadn’t planned to look at James’s boat her time was a bit tight today, but she wouldn’t say no.

“Sure Mr. Olsen, I’ll do my best!” Kara said holding the same smile she had since this conversation started.

“You always do, Kara. Here.” Mr. Olsen pulls his wallet out of his pocket opens it and hands her a hundred-dollar bill. “Again, happy to have you back Kara!” He said patting her on the shoulder and walking away from her towards the house. Kara looked down at the money in her hand, before gleefully putting it in her pocket. This was why she worked on this side of the island.

Kara walked to the large circular driveway in front of the house, easily finding the jet skis. Kara kept a small portable radio in her tool kit, and she set that up before getting to work. Kara listened to the radio and zoned into her work, she loved working on a good machine and the Olsen’s had very good machines. An hour passed and Kara was close to finishing with the jet skis.

“Hey, Kara!” Kara looks over her shoulder and saw Maggie walking up the driveway.

“Hey, Maggie. How are you?” Kara said to her as she turned the radio down.

“I’m good! Last night was fun, you know until the boys started being assholes.” Maggie said putting her hand in her pockets.

“Yeah, it was. Wish Alex had stayed longer though.” Kara said, she remembers seeing Maggie walk in Alex’s direction after their fight and after the way Alex acted this morning Kara wanted to see Maggie’s reaction.

“Yeah, well you know how Alex is, she’s stubborn. Never wants to admit when she’s wrong.” Maggie said kicking some of the gravel at her feet.

“That’s true. Did you talk to her? I thought you guys were friends and then…” Kara said wavering, she’s not sure that she should be asking about this but it’s too late she’s already prying and she wanted to see if she was right about her feeling that Alex was lying to her this morning.

“I talked to her.” Maggie said thoughtfully, but not adding anything else. Before Kara could say anything else Kelly walked out of the front door.

“Maggie, Kara, Hey!” Kelly said as she approached them. “I’m sorry about last night Kara, my brother, he’s a dick, he gets carried away.” Kelly said as she reached Kara.

“Thanks Kelly. I’m glad you were there.” Kara said. She wasn’t sure what else she could say, it was fine is the Sums talked shit about each other, but Kara tried never to say anything, just in case. “I better finish up here, I’ll see you guys around.” Kara said and turned back to clean up her tools.

Maggie and Kelly both said bye to her before walking into the house. Kara turned up her radio and finished her job.

When she was finished, she headed towards the dock. She remembered Mr. Olsen’s request to look at James’s boat. Kara weaved through the large trees on the property, she was almost at the dock when she heard Oliver Queen's voice. Kara peaked around the tree and saw James and Oliver sitting in chairs on the patio down by the water.

“I’ve hooked up with most of the girls on this island, but Sawyer won’t give me a way in man!”

Kara rolled her eyes; Maggie was way to smart for Oliver.

“Yeah Sawyer’s hot, but I have my eyes on the real prize.” James said smugly.

“The Luthor? You’re a braver man than me!” Oliver said laughing.

“My parents and her mother were talking a few months ago back home, they’ve totally been trying to hook us up but Lena is super busy during the school year so I could hardly see her. Now that it’s summer though, it’s just a matter of time! Trust me by the end of vacation that girl will be mine.” James said finality in his voice.

Kara's stomach rolled. He was not good enough for Lena, at all. Would Lena really go for a guy like James Olsen? Had Lena been seeing James back in National City before coming here for the summer? Kara felt her shoulders slump, maybe Lena was just as arrogant as they are. She didn’t know Lena anymore, it’s been five years, she’s probably completely changed. Kara felt herself hope that wasn’t true. Kara moved from her spot behind the tree and walked past them both. As they caught sight of her Kara nodded her head towards them.

“Your father asked me to look at your boat motor James. That alright?” Kara said with as much strength and professionalism that she could muster.

“Yeah, whatever bodyguard.” James said leaning back in the yard chairs they were situated in.

He’s obviously calling her bodyguard because of last night; Kara resists the urge to roll her eyes for the second time. She decides it’s better not to give him any response and walks down the dock to the boat. She works on the motor and steps out of the boat, she walks back to hers jumping in and securing her tool kit and pulling away as fast as possible from the Olsen’s. She drives her boat towards the Sawyer’s but stops when she reaches open water. ever since she overheard Oliver’s and James’s conversation her body has been full of tension. She rolls her shoulders and looks out towards the open ocean.

She laughs dejectedly. Did she really think that Lena would come back and they could be friends again, that they could maybe be more than friends? No one had ever listened to Kara like Lena had, not even Alex. When Lena didn’t come back when Kara was 13 it broke her heart in a way Kara didn’t understand until she realized she liked girls, then she knew why she had been so devastated. Lena had been Kara’s first pure innocent love.

Finally, Lena is back, but everything Kara had ever envisioned is just a dream that can never happen. Lena isn’t going to end up with someone like Kara, Lena will end up with James Olsen and there’s nothing she can do about it. Kara feels as if the devastation she felt at 13 is happening all over again. Kara feels the urge to jump into the water and experience the silence that being underwater brings but she knows she has to get to the Sawyer’s. She starts the boat and heads towards the Sawyer estate. As she’s driving Kara makes a decision, she needs to stay away from Lena Luthor.

Kara finishes at the Sawyers in a couple of hours and leaves with a decent amount of money. The Sawyers always pay her by the job. Kara hops into her boat and heads towards the Arias estate, her last stop of the day. Kara thinks she can probably get some surfing in after she finishes there.

Kara parks her boat at the end of the Arias dock and sees Mr. Arias on the deck of their yacht that dwarfs her boat. She greets him and he tells her he wants her to look at his ATV’s that are parked in the detached garage beside the house. Kara smiles and nods before grabbing her tool kit and heading towards the garage. She rounds the side of the garage and is almost inside when she hears the sweet voice of Lena Luthor.

“Hi, Kara.”

Kara almost drops her tool kit. Kara had literally just decided to stay away from Lena, she is simultaneously the only person she doesn’t want to see and the only person she does want to see.

“Lena, what are you doing here?” Kara said. She shouldn’t be surprised she knows Lena is friends with Sam.

“I’m here to see Sam, but I saw you instead to I’d thought I’d come to say hi. It was so nice seeing you last night.” Lena is smiling at her like nothing is wrong, like what happened last night didn’t matter, but it does to Kara.

Kara pauses considering what to say next, she wants to tell Lena how amazing it was to see her too, but she can’t. She made her decision, they are from different worlds and Kara is not going to put herself through the heartbreak of seeing Lena eventually walk away from her.

“I have to get to work.” Kara said. She sees the smile fall from Lena’s face at her words and Kara almost feels guilty.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I just thought…” Lena trails off and runs a hair through her perfectly wavy hair. She looks away from Kara.

“I’m working, Lena.” Kara said. She tries to soften her voice but she thinks it still sounds cold.

“Okay, I won’t bother you.” Lena takes a final calculating look at her, likes she’s trying to figure Kara out, she had always been able to before. “Bye Kara.”

Lena walks away and Kara tries not to watch, she fails. Kara feels worse than she did earlier, but she knows this is what she has to do. Kara is only sparring herself and Lena any further pain of trying to make any kind relationship work between them, at least that’s why she keeps repeating to herself.

Kara finishes her work quickly and practically runs across the estate to reach her boat. Mr. Arias is still on the yacht and he hands her some cash and thanks her. Kara smiles tightly at him and starts her boat. As she glances back towards the estate, she sees Sam, and then Lena, who is holding Sam’s baby Ruby in her lap and smiling a beautiful full smile at the baby. Kara turns her boat towards the marsh and wills the tears away from her eyes as she glides home across the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for your nice comments, the kudos, and bookmarks! :))))


	5. crack in my amour

Kara stays busy. She hangs outs and works with Winn at the bait shop, she works on the estates, she smokes weed with Nate, surfs and spends a few nights a Nia’s, and she eats dinner with the Danvers. Kara feels more unsettled than she has since her father died. Strangely she starts feeling overwhelmed, so she spends a few days in a row at her house and on the third day her mom looks at her with surprise all over her face. Kara realizes this is the longest she’s been around her house in a long time, but she somehow feels she’s had another loss in her life even if she and Lena had barley spoken again. 

Kara surfs until late than lays sleeplessly in her bed for hours. Ever night she regrets her decision, she remembers the looks of shock and sadness in Lena’s eyes when Kara basically told her to leave her alone. This could be Kara’s last chance to see Lena and she’s just going to push her away? Every night she convinces herself that tomorrow will be the day when she’ll find Lena on the island and she’ll say sorry, she’ll ask if they can start over, but everything morning she changes her mind. Lena didn’t need Kara in her life for the last five years so why would she now? She was destined for a life Kara could never be a part of, and why would Lena want to be a part of hers, she had nothing.

Kara has seen Lena a total of three times in the last 2 weeks.

The first time is a few days after running into her at the Arias’s. Kara has just finished a long day at the bait shop, her days there are getting really busy since the summer season is in full swing. Kara’s and Winn head to her boat. 

“Kara, do you want to go do some fishing and catch some dinner? J’onn told me of a really great spot!” Winn asked as he threw his bag into the boat before jumping in. 

“Sure Winn, that sounds great!” Kara said. Winn is great a frying fish, his family and J’onn always had the biggest fish fry party at the end of the summer. 

They start to boat away from the main strip. Winn sits in the front of the boat and opens a beer that’s been in the cooler all day.

“Isn’t that warm? I didn’t get more ice today.” Kara said as she took a big swig. He made a face as soon as she said it. 

“Yep, very warm, but beer’s a beer!” He said grinning and taking another wincing sip. Kara and Winn are laughing and she’s smiling a genuine smile, the first she had since seeing Lena. When she looks out towards the water ahead of them, she notices James Olsen’s boat coming into view. Her smile falls slightly and Winn notices, he wipes his head around to see what she’s looking at. 

James is driving his speed boat named “The Guardian”, Oliver and Maggie sitting in the back and sitting in the front is Lena. She has a large sunhat shading her and dark sunglasses. A light summer shawl is around her shoulders and Kara can see she’s wearing a navy summer dress. 

Their boats pass within feet of each other and Kara tries so hard not to stare at Lena but fails, she looks at her intently for a moment and she thinks behind Lena’s dark glasses she’s staring at her too. The moment passes so fast and James ignores her completely. Maggie yells a greeting to her, and she nods and waves. Then they're gone. 

“I hate that guy.” Winn said glaring at his back. Kara doesn’t turn around, she’s afraid she won’t be able to turn back. “Who names their boat the guardian, that’s so stupid! You still need to name your boat Kara, it’s been “the no-name” forever!” Winn added.

Kara laughs and agrees and tries to will away the feeling of sadness of not being able to see Lena’s eyes.

The second time Kara sees Lena it’s after she’s finished a day or work at the bait shop. 

Kara says bye to Winn for the day and is texting Alex to see if she can come over to her house or if Alex is still working. It’s one of the hottest days so far and Kara takes off her work shirt, leaving her in her bikini top and shorts. 

As she walks down the main street waiting for Alex’s reply, she waves to J’onn work in working at his family's grocery store, Kara let their incident at the party go, there was no point holding grudges. Kara is walking aimlessly and doesn’t notice Nia until she’s standing right in front of her. 

“Hey you! What’re you doing?” Nia said as she smiled and lifted the sunglasses off her eyes.

“Nia, Hi! Nothing, just waiting for Alex to text me back.” Kara said waving her phone in her hand. “What about you?” 

“Oh, I’m just going to pick up and order for the boats. You know how we’re always running out of drinks!” Nia said, as Kara is about to reply she sees Lena over Nia’s left shoulder. Today she’s wearing a black romper and she’s walking down the main street, glancing into shop windows. Her hair is down and it looks perfectly wavy and she’s wearing another large brim sunhat.

“Kara? Kara!” Nia’s voice breaks her out of her thoughts, and she tears her gaze away from Lena. 

“Sorry, what?” Kara said looking at Nia.

“Do you and Alex want to hang out later? Or just us if Alex doesn’t want too...” Nia said looking with a sweet smile. Kara tries to glace over to Lena again but when she looks Lena is walking right beside them. 

“Hi, Kara.” Lena said. 

Kara feels her mouth go dry. Lena’s eyes are piercing into her and she can only nod her head as Lena passes, not trusting her voice.

“What the hell was that?!” Nia said shocked. Her mouth is hanging open and she looks at Kara then at Lena’s back as she walks away.

“What?! Nothing, I don’t even know what you mean!” Kara panicked.

“You know Lena Luthor or something?” Nia pressed.

“I work on the estates, you know, I know everyone.” Kara tries to play it off and hopes the tension in her voice isn’t noticeable.

Her phone vibrates in her hand and Kara sees Alex reply telling her to come over now. 

“That’s Alex, I got to go, text you later!” Kara said, her voice sounds shrill in her ears as she walks around Nia. 

“Okay sure Kara!” Nia yelled. Kara glanced back at her and saw her staring at her like she was trying to figure something out. 

The third time Kara sees Lena it's evening. 

Kara had just finished working on the Lord’s estate which was at the opposite end of the island than her place on the marsh, meaning she had to pass by all the estates to get home. The Luthor estate was close to the Lord’s, Kara had taken a look at it as she passed by it that day. There was one bridge boat and a deck boat at the end of their docks, the bridge boat has a scripted LKL decal on the side, and Kara guessed that must be Lena’s. Kara wondered why she didn’t have a speed boat like everyone else. 

The sun was starting to hang low in the sky as Kara started to pass the Luthor estate. As she glanced to look at Lena’s boat again, she spots her. She’s sitting on the lower deck in the back of her boat and she’s reading. Her hair is blowing in the evening wind and Kara swears she can see her lips moving as she reads. She looks so relaxed; the most relaxed Kara had seen her since she’d been on the island. Lena loved reading, she was the smartest person Kara had ever met and Lena used to read to Kara while she studied. She was always studying even in the summer.

Kara can’t help but look at Lena, she slows her boat slightly wanting to prolong her staring, but the change of the motor sounds causes Lena to look up and over towards Kara. Lena stands up and the book falls from her hands. She looks directly at Kara and Kara feels her face flush in embarrassment at being caught. Kara can see Lena smile at her and Kara panics even more. She looks away accelerates her boat back to full speed and doesn’t look back. She blames the wind in her eyes when a tear leaks out. 

Kara hasn’t seen Lena again in about four days and she’s starting to feel like maybe she can successfully avoid her for the rest of the summer. She’s working at the bait shop with Winn and they’re actually having a slow morning for once. There both stocking the shelves when they hear the bell above the door jingle. 

Kara lifts her head to greet the customer and makes direct eye contact with Lena. Lena looks at her with a determined look in her eye, one Kara recognizes from when they were younger, and Lena had her mindset on something. She starts walking briskly and directly towards Kara, weaving through the displays and racks. Kara has the urge to run before she realizes how ridiculous that is. 

“Kara, I need to talk to you.” Lena said her voice clear. Kara freezes, she wants to say yes but knows she should say no.

“I’m working right now...” Kara said her voice sounding much less clear than Lena’s.

“I’m sure Winn can handle it for a few minutes, right Winn?” Lena said and turns to look at Winn. Winn looks just as shocked as Kara, and Kara tries to telepathically tell him to say no. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine...” Winn finally said looking between the two of them. Kara wants to roll her eyes, of course, Winn would say it’s fine. 

“Great, where can we talk?” Lena’s gaze is firmly placed on Kara and she crosses her arms. 

“Um, this way.” Kara turns and walks to an exit door in the back. It leads to an alley between the bait shop and the next building, it’s the most private place Kara can think of on short notice. The door bangs as it shuts behind them. Silence fills the space, Kara kicks a rock, she can feel Lena is still staring at her. “So…” 

“Why are you completely ignoring me, Kara?” Kara’s head snaps up at the sound of Lena’s voice, gone is the clarity, gone is the determination. She sounds so sad and when Kara looks at her, she glimpses it too. 

“Lena I—” Kara started to try and come up with an excuse when Lena continues.

“Was it something I said that night at the party? I’ve been replaying it but Kara I don’t know what it is that I did! You won’t even look at me and I need to know why.” Some of Lena’s determination has returned by the end of her sentence. 

“Lena, things are different now...” Kara knows it doesn’t explain anything but she’s not sure what else she can say, she suddenly doesn’t want to say that she knows she doesn’t belong in Lena’s life and hear Lena herself confirm it. 

“I know things are different Kara but I’m not totally different, I’m still the same where it matters, I’m still your friend.” 

Kara takes a step towards her, it’s the closest she's been since the party. She looks at Lena, who looks so out of place in the backdrop of the dingey alley, with her summer wedges and forest green dress. Kara really tries to hold out, she tries forming a way to tell Lena they shouldn’t see each other but instead she says.

“I’m sorry, I just—I thought that maybe you wouldn’t want to be. My friend. Now that we’re older.” Kara said. She takes another step towards Lena feeling magnetized. 

“I’ve always wanted to be your friend Kara, you’re the only reason I wanted to come back here.” 

Kara can’t help the small smile that reaches her lips. She’s done, all her carefully constructed plans to avoid Lena are gone. 

“The only reason, huh?” Kara can’t help but grin towards Lena.

“Shut up. Can you please stop avoiding me now?” Lena said.

“Well, I guess so since I’m your only reason to be on the island!” Kara answered.

They laugh and Kara can’t help but give in and smile widely, it feels so good to be around Lena and talk to her.

“Can I see you later?” Lena said as a pause hangs in the space between them.

“Yes.” Kara said, her smile somehow growing even wider.


	6. don't want distance

Kara tells Lena she’s done at 3:30 and Lena tells her to pick her at her dock at 4. Kara rushes out of the bait shop and tries to clean up her boat a bit, throwing some trash into a garbage can on the pier. For a moment she’s self-conscious of her boat, the paint is faded, the seats are ragged, it’s nothing compared to the others on the island, but she shakes away the thought, Lena isn’t going to care about her boat. At least she hoped not. 

“Hey Kara, can you drop me off?” Winn said catching up to her. Kara looks at her watch, it’s almost four and Winn’s is in the opposite direction of Lena’s. 

“Um, Sorry Winn, I have plans.” She said nervously and shuffles her feet. She hopes for a moment that he’s not going to question her or ask anything else. 

“With Lena?” Winn smirks, Kara feels her cheeks heat up, so much for her hope.

“Um...” Kara stutters, she knows he knows, but for some reason, she feels it catch in her throat. She doesn’t want to have to share it with anyone yet, she doesn’t want to have to share Lena. 

“Kara, it’s fine. It’s nice to see you smiling again, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Winn said waving and smirking as he walked away. Kara can’t help but feel relieved at Winn’s reaction, maybe all her worrying really had been for nothing. 

Kara starts the boat then and jumps in she passes Nia on her dad’s boat and she waves at her, Nia makes a call me sign with her hand and Kara sees her mouth “call me later” she nods and throws her a thumbs up before taking her boat up to full speed. As Kara approaches the Luthor estate she spies Lena standing at the end of their dock. Her hair is blowing lightly in the wind, she isn’t wearing a big sun hat or sunglasses and Kara swears she can see Lena’s eyes light up when she sees Kara coming towards her. Kara stops her boat at the end of the dock and Lena gracefully steps in it. She’s wearing plain black jeans and a white t-shirt; Kara can see her black bikini straps poking out and tied around Lena’s pale neck. Lena has a picnic basket in her hands and places it down in the boat. 

“Hi! I thought I’d bring something to eat, I know you’ve been working all day so I thought you might be hungry but if you’ve eaten already that’s fine too…” Lena trails off and Kara can tell she’s nervous. Kara’s nervous too. 

“That’s perfect, Lena. Thank you! I haven’t eaten and I’m starving!” Kara said grinning at her, Lena immediately grins back. “Let's go.” Lena sits down beside Kara and she brings the boat up to speed knowing exactly where they’re going to go.

It didn’t take long to get to the point and when it came into view Lena grabbed Kara’s arm. 

“I remember this place! I always loved it here.” Lena said her face lighting up. 

Kara pulls her boat into the shallows and throws out her anchor. It’s as close as she can get since this no dock at the point. Kara jumps out, the water almost reaching her knees. 

“Sorry, I probably should have told you to wear shorts.” Kara said sheepishly, looking at Lena in her jeans. 

“Oh, it’s fine.” Lena quickly unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down revealing her black bikini bottoms. Kara gulped and tried not to stare, Lena’s legs look strong and the curve of her hip looks deadly. She passed the towels and basket to Kara then jumped into the water. They walked together up to the beach and Kara spread the towels and placed the basket beside them. Kara drops herself down onto the towel and Lena eases herself down beside her. 

Silence sits between them and Kara tries to figure out what to say.

“I—”

“So--"

They both start then look at each other and laugh. Lena leans over and grabs the basket. 

“Here, let’s eat. I’m not the best cook but I can make a pretty good sandwich!” She laughs and passes a wrapped sandwich to Kara. Kara unwraps it eagerly and takes a bite.

“Lena this is a damn good sandwich!” Kara exclaimed between bites and Lena smiles shyly.

“Kara, I want to apologize. The party… I was thinking about it and that’s why you’ve been avoiding me right? I upset you when I left with them and I’m sorry.” 

Kara looks at Lena and can see how genuine her apology is in her eyes. 

“Lena, I-“ Kara hesitates, she doesn’t want to get into any of that right now she just wants to be here with Lena. “I forgive you, I’m here with you now and that’s all the matters.”

Lena boldly grabs Kara’s hand and hold it between both of hers. 

“I’m also sorry about your Dad. He was a very nice man. I remember him always bringing us popsicles” Lena has a small smile and Kara is transported to when they were young, and her dad would bring Kara and Lena popsicles at the hottest part of the day if they were playing on their property on the marsh. 

“I forgot about that.” Kara said softly. “I’m sorry about your brother although I don’t think I can say the same...” 

Kara’s not sure if that was too harsh but growing up Lex has always been a bully to everyone on the island and Kara wasn’t really surprised that he had hurt people and ended up in jail. 

“Well you’re right about that, Lex was always pretty terrible.” Lena said.

“Still, he’s your brother and I’m sure all of that sucked.” Kara said poking her toes into the sand. 

“Yeah, but he did it. My mother loves to say he's innocent, but he did it.” Lena said with a hint of anger to her voice. 

“Are you okay?” Kara said. She hates to think of Lena's suffering, Lena looks at her surprised. 

“Yes, I wasn’t for a long time. It was lonely of course, obviously, no one wanted to be around me.” 

“I would have.” Kara said. Lena is still holding her hand and Kara places hers on tops and squeezes. 

“What about you? Are you okay?” Lena said staring so intently at Kara. No one except Alex had asked Kara that in a long time. Lately, when Alex asked there was always an undertone of a lecture, how Alex wanted to tell her all the ways she could be okay if Kara just listened to her advice. Lena was genuinely asking, asking if Kara was okay and that if she wasn’t it was alright. Kara shifts under her gaze. 

“I’m fine. I adjusted, it's just a new normal now.” Kara said evenly. Kara swears it’s like she can feel some of her carefully built walls cracking slightly.

“It must have been terrible, Kara.” Lena said and this time she squeezes Kara's hand.

“It was terrible.” Kara said swallowing a lump in her throat. She looks out to the ocean and she suddenly wants to tell Lena everything. The cracks are split right open and she can feel her sadness pouring through them, it’s been so long since she’s talked about that day, but she wants Lena’s comfort so badly. 

“I was the one that found him. I was going out to the garage because he was supposed to show me a new motor, he found for us to work on. We were supposed to work on it in the morning, but I had wanted to go hang out with Alex instead and he’d said it was alright. So, I had just got back from Alex’s and ran to tell him, I was yelling ‘Dad’ as I approached the garage and I guess I thought he just couldn’t hear me. When I got into the garage, he was lying face down in front of his workbench. For some reason I thought that he was just laying down or sleeping, I guess my brain just couldn’t process what was actually happening at first. Then when I reached him and touched him and he wouldn’t move, wouldn’t wake up, I screamed. I screamed so loud my Mom came sprinting into the garage and she saw me, then looked at my Dad. I remember the look on her face so well for some reason. It was a look of devastation I’d never known existed before that. She shoved me out of the way and yelled to call someone. She started CPR and I called the ambulance but there was no point. It was a brain aneurysm, so one day he was here and the next he was gone.”

Kara finally looks at Lena and she wraps her arms around Kara and hugs her so tightly. Kara can’t remember the last time she’d been held like this. Lena doesn’t say anything, she just holds her as the minutes' pass. When they finally pull away Lena softly drags her thumbs across Kara's cheeks where a few tears had escaped and were running down her face.

“I’m sorry I brought it up, I’m really messing up lately.” Lena said quietly. 

“No, it’s okay. Thank you for listening to me.” Kara is so close to Lena, with their hands intertwined it feels like they’re the only people on the island, Lena’s hair falls from behind her ear and Kara wants to tuck it back. She wants to run her hands through her hair and stay in this moment. 

“Anytime Kara.” Lena whispered. Kara takes a deep breath and stares into Lena’s eyes. Then Kara feels overwhelmed, she hadn’t been this close to anyone in a way like this in so long and suddenly she feels her chest tighten. Kara leans away from Lena; she needs some space. 

“Come on, let's go swimming!” Kara said, she untangles her hands from Lena’s and stands up. Once she’s up she offers her hand back to Lena and pulls her to her feet. Kara shimmies out of her shorts and pulls her top over her head. Lena takes her t-shirt off as well and Kara can’t help but look at Lena’s body on full display, she wants to reach out to touch her and when she reaches Lena’s eye, she swears Lena is staring at her in the same way. 

“Kara, you have abs!” Lena points and grins. 

“I work out!” Kara grins with a shrug then flexes her arm like a bodybuilder. 

Lena laugh is loud, and she pushes Kara jokingly. Kara stumbles and Lena runs into the water still laughing. 

“It’s on now!” Kara said challenging and takes off after Lena into the water. 

Kara and Lena swim for a while, then lay on towels on the beach and talk about random light topics. Lena tells Kara about her school and how she still wants to be a marine biologist and Kara tells Lena about wanting to stay on the island and apprentice under some of the boat mechanics. They talk about music and Lena tells her about some of the concerts she’d been to in National City. Kara tells her she hadn’t been back on the mainland in a long time and Lena says that she’ll take Kara to a concert sometime even if she had to pick her up personally, Kara couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Lena bringing her boat all the way out to get her. 

The sun starts to hang low in the sky, they quietly pack up all their things and get back into the boat. Before Kara starts the boat, Lena stops her. 

“I had a really good time this afternoon.” Lena said softly. Kara looks into Lena's eyes; she looks so pretty in the fading light. When her hair falls in front of her face Kara doesn’t stop herself this time and tucks it back behind Lena’s ear, running her fingertips against Lena’s cheek. 

“Me too, Lena.” Kara said. Lena’s cheeks turn light pink and she sits down in the boat. Kara reluctantly starts the boat and heads back towards the Luthor estate. It feels like it only takes moments and then she’s pulling up to the dock. She didn’t want her time with Lena to end yet and Lena lingered gathering her things. 

“Hey, do you have your phone on you?” Lena asked. 

“Yeah, One second.” Kara said leaning over to pop open storage space and take her phone out of a plastic bag. “I dropped one too many in the ocean.” She said sheepishly as Lena looked at the plastic bag. She laughed and reached for the phone, Kara unlocked it and handed it to her. She handed it back a moment later. 

“Text me.” Lena said smiling and stepping onto her dock. She started to walk away back towards her house. 

“I will!” Kara yelled and Lena turned and smiled at her. Kara couldn’t help but watch her walk away and when she looked down at her phone, she saw Lena’s number, and beside her contact name was a heart and a dolphin emoji. Kara smiled and placed her phone back in the bag, then took off towards the marsh.


End file.
